Pulverized fuel distributor for burner nozzles



June 28,1949. F, T. HAGUE R 2,474,477

PULVERIZRD FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR BURNER NOZZLES Filed Dec. 6, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 com. I no!!! u |Q|| 7 MI l lulml Hi INVENTOR FLoYo T. HAGUE ATTORNEY Junezs, 1949. RT. HAGUE 2,474,477

PULVERIZED FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR BURNER NOZZLES Filed Dec. 6, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES: I L INVENTOR U). 41 h FLOYD T. HAGUE BY 6. (9 MI ATTORNEY F. T. HAGUE June 28, 1949.

I PULVERIZED FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR BURNER NOZZLES Filed Dec. 6, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 A Y mH M E 6 M vT ,T M W T D A VI v F B E S S E m m Patented June 28, 1949 PULVERIZED FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR BURNER NOZZLES 1 Floyd T. Hague, Drexel Hill, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 6, 1946, Serial No.714;s'57

(c1.'s022s) 1 Claim.

The invention relates to means for supplying a mixture of fuel and air to a plurality ofnozzles and it has for an object t'o'provide apparatus of this character utilizin an impeller to promote uniformity of the mixture and to secure distribution thereof in an equalized manner to the nozzles.

A further object of the invention is to provide for division of the stream of pulverized fuel and air mixture into a plurality of equal parts supplied to a plurality of nozzles with maintenance of uniformity of the mixture;

The division of acoal-in-air'stream into two or more smaller streams of equal size is generally recognized as a diflicult operation for the reason that the coal may not be uniformly distributed over the cross section of the air stream, in consequence of which stationary partitioning or dividing means do not given uniform or accurate division. Accordingly, it is a further object of the invention to meet this problem by means of a centrifugal impeller or fan which operates to induce the flow of a mixture of coal and. air thereto at high velocity and which discharges the mixture peripherally through circLunfcrentially-distributed outlets and passages to nozzles.

A further object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of the above character wherein the vane or impeller is designed to give a relatively high inlet velocity to assure of more uniform distribution of the ln-coming fuel and air and to discharge the mixture peripherally therefrom into an annular equalizing chamber Drovided with circumferentially-distributed outlets connected by supply passages to nozzles.

In general, the invention has for a further object to provide a relatively small and compact divider for a coal and air stream and wherein the divider has a high speed runner or impeller operating to induce a high in-coming velocity of the mixture of fuel and air and which has a diameter suflicient for the number of mixture outlets desired.

The foregoing and other objects are effected by the invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the divider and associated apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the impeller divider;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken along the line III-III of Fig. 1 and showing the impeller in plan;

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view of the impeller; and

2 Fig. 5 is adetail sectional view of the divider showing one of the distributing pipes.

In the drawings, there is shown impeller apparatus, at H], supplied with a'mixture of pulverized fuel and air by suitable means, such as the pulverizing and-classifying apparatus, at II, and which is-operative, while maintaining uniformity of the mixture of fuel and air, to secure equalized flow of the mixture to aplurality of nozzle-supply passages l2. 1

The impeller apparatus includes a casing l4 having atop orfront 'well I5 and a bottom' or back wall I6. A drive shaft", rotated at a suitably high speed by means, such as the motor it, extends through the aperture I9 formed in the bottom wall and it terminates within the casing. As shown, the housin 14 and the motor l8 are carried by bracket structure 20, which cooperates with the housing bottom wall to hold sealing means 2! about the drive shaft.

An impeller 22 is attached to the upper end of the drive shaft within the casing. Preferably, the impeller is in the form of a disc and it has vanes 23 and 24 unitary with the upper and lower sides thereof. The vanes 23 have sufficiently close clearance with respect to the top wall l5 to form impeller passages 25 between adjacent vanes, whereas the vanes 24 provide radial passages 26 covered by the bottom wall. Th vanes 23 and 24 terminate outwardly at the periphery of the impeller 22 and the vanes 23 terminate at their inner ends a suflicient distance from the impeller axis so that such inner vane ends and the impeller form a central impeller space 28 in open communication with the inner ends of the impeller passages 25.

The casing top and bottom walls are joined by an annular wall structure 29 providing an annular equalizing chamber 30 encompassing the impeller 22. outwardly and radially from the impeller periphery, the wall structure 29 is provided with outlets 3| for the respective nozzlesupply passages I2. The outlets are distributed about the impeller periphery in uniformly spaced relation.

The pulverized fuel and air supply passage or conduit 32 has its outlet opening through the top wall l5 into the central or eye space 28 of the impeller so that the latter, rotating at high speed, induces flow of mixture of pulverized fuel and air thereinto from the conduit 32 at high velocity and acts on the mixture to discharge it into the annular equalizing chamber 30 for flow through the outlets 3| to the nozzle-supply passages 12.

Preferably, the impeller passages 25 and 26 are provided by slots milled in the disc.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have devised apparatus for supplying a mixture of pulverized fuel and air to a plurality of nozzle passages and which employs an impeller operating to give a high in-coming velocity .of pulverized fuel and fail to promote :nniformgdistribution of the coal and air and wherein the impeller is designed to have a, relatively low developed pressure head. The annular equalizing chamber encompassing the impeller provides for substantially uniform division of the pulverized fuel and air stream into separate pants outlier-nozzles. The bottom passages 26 fundtiqn'aasg-impell-er passages to keep the space between the bottom wall and the impeller clear of pulverized fuel accumulations. A pulverized fuel and air mixture dividin device of this character may be constructed so as to be quite small :and compact and require onlya smallzamonnt of povrer for its operation, it being importantto have-a high pulverized fueland air in-coming welocitytokthe impeller to promote uniformity ef ;the mixturc, :to ,provide the impeller with an encompassing -equalizing chamber to assure of equalized supply of the mixture to the nozzle suppl qmss.agesand to have an limpeller I or munner of summent;:diameter suil3able to the number 3101 v outlets ifor supplying pulverized fuel and air from the equalizing chamber etc the passages.

While dahe :inverrtion rhaS abeen shown in -=hut one form, it (will'be'obM-ious toathose skilledin the chamber encompassing the impeller and including opposed walls having close clearance with me spect' to saidvanes, said chamber having circumferentially-distributed outlets for the respectiveipassages withthe outlets disposed outwardly -:rom;d2b.e zimpeller periphery, and a pulverized ituelrandiair mixture supply conduit communicatin withhthe central portion of one side of the impeller so that the latter is effective to produce fidwzof :mixture into the impeller at high velocity and to act on the mixture to discharge it through the Marie passages at said one, side into theannular chamber for .flow through the outlets to the nozzleesuprilypassages.

.T. .HAGUE.

REFERENCES CITED The :follcrwing references zare:of.-,1=ec0rd in the file of this patent:

UNITED "STATES PATENTS Name :Date :Skentelberyetal. ,Apr. ;-8, 1930 Number 

